Sabaton

Live at The House of Blues

West Hollywood, CA

November 10th, 2014

Review and photos by Travis Baumann

Sabaton had already come through Los Angeles earlier in the year on tour with Iced Earth and ReVamp which was an awesome concert but they were limited in set time, having the middle position in the lineup.

Later in the year they toured opening for the mighty Amon Amarth but did not play LA. Without much fanfare I found out they were playing a headlining gig at the historical but small venue, The Whisky a Go Go.

Although the stage can barely fit all of the members on stage, they managed to get everyone up there and put on one hell of a show. Sabaton are currently promoting their latest release, "Heros" which tells the tales of heros throughout World War II on both sides of the war.

As with all of their releases, the newest album is heavily researched and historically accurate, detailing the terrors of war and at times the necessity to partake in order to defend those who cannot defend themselves.

I was excited to see them again, as much for the new material as well as a full set list as now they had no limits but their own. It would turn out that I was not to be disappointed, as they gave us a massive set with songs spanning their entire career.

The Whisky was completely packed with fans screaming and waving Swedish flags as the band took the stage. They started off the set with one of their favorite openers, "Ghost Division". It is bombastic and powerful both in its musical intensity but its lyrical content as well and really got the crowd moving.

They went into one of their new songs, "To Hell and Back" off of "Heros". They followed that up with what still remains my absolute favorite song of theirs, "Carolus Rex". This song is just so awesome it still gives me goose bumps to hear it live and sing along to it.

Sabaton have certain songs they play every tour and that is because they are so dynamic and the audience responds with massive sing alongs. "40:1" is one of these songs and everyone sang together.

Keeping the audience participation at its peak, they did "Swedish Pagans" next which is one of their older songs and has a more old world feel than most of their material and is a bit lighter hearted as well.

They did the Swedish version of "The Carolean's Prayer" which I am not sure I have ever seen live before and then "Soldier of 3 Armies" off the new album before going back to one of their fan favorite standbys, "Panzer Battalion".

We got to see another Swedish version of one of the songs off "Carolus Rex" with the song "Gott Mit Uns" followed by the powerful "Attero Dominatus" which has a great chorus telling of how "Berlin has fallen".

The telltale female voice quoting Sun Tzu let us know that "The Art of War" was up next and then they hit the last song of the main set which was "Resist and Bite".

After a short hiatus while they recouped upstairs, they retook the stage and gave us "Night Witches" off of the new album. Even with a full set there are too many good Sabaton songs to hear them all so we all guessed what could be coming next.

We got "White Death" followed by another one of my all time favorite songs of theirs, "Primo Victoria". The crowd bouned and sang along with this epic song retelling of the storming of the beach at Normandie in 1944.

With only one song left, they gave us "Metal Crue", very much a straight up metal anthem from their earliest days as a band.

It was a great performance and as always, the lead singer is full of exuberance and charisma. He spoke to us throughout the show between songs and is quite humorous as well.  You can tell the entire band love to be on stage and have the audience share and participate in the experience.

I have said it before but have to repeat it: I cannot recommend it strongly enough that this is a band you have to see live. They have this amazing stage presence and really sweep you up in their historical drama.

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